1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fault indication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-server rack enclosure fault diagnostic system for providing an overall rack level fault indication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rack mount servers provide an effective way of aggregating a large number of servers, and thus storage capacity, in a relatively small space. Rack mounted servers are typically mounted in vertical racks that comply with Electronic Industry Association (EIA) specifications. EIA standard rack mount equipment is housed in a chassis or housing 19″ wide. EIA compliant server and other electronic equipment can be readily mounted into the EIA standard rack.
In an effort to monitor, test, and maintain rack mounted electronic equipment, numerous systems and methods have been proposed for indicating, and/or detecting fault occurrences experienced by the electronic equipment mounted in the rack. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,459 to Djuphammar et al. discloses a plurality of telecommunication cabinets stacked in columns or rows in a station rack. Djuphammar et al discloses each cabinet as being equipped with an error LED that is lit when any circuit board assembly of unit in the cabinet indicates an error is present. U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,112 to Novack discloses a plurality of memory storage units plugged into SCA-connector bays in a console rack, wherein the SCA-connector bays are mounted on the system backplane within the console rack. For each bay-mounted SCA-connector, there is disclosed a logic circuit that includes the system backplane. The logic circuit includes a resistor and two parallel-coupled LEDs. One of the LEDs is located on the console bay adjacent a bay opening, and the second LED is mounted on a visible (i.e., outer) surface of the console rack. Both the Djuphammar et al. and the Novack disclosed systems provide a component level indication of the status of the individual electronic equipment units.
Modern high density servers, often designed to run mission critical applications, require sufficient ventilation and cooling to ensure that the server maintains a high level of availability. High density rack mounted servers should also be secure from unintended and unauthorized access. To address both of these concerns, an EIA standard rack server may typically have a finely perforated, lockable metal door that provides both a sufficient amount of ventilation and security. However, while the perforations provide the requisite security and ventilation (given, for example, a rack mounted fan), the finely sized and spaced perforations (i.e., holes) inhibit visual inspection and determination of a fault occurrence of any of the electronic equipment in the rack.
Accordingly, the Djuphammar et al. and Novack systems discussed above for example, with their individual constituent unit fault indicators, cannot provide a visual fault indication when housed in a modern server rack having a perforated door that substantially obscures direct viewing of the electrical equipment housed in the rack. Furthermore, each of the examples discussed above requires a common backplane, complex cabling, and/or specialized circuitry for each unit in the rack to provide an indication of the monitored electronic equipment unit.
Therefore, there exists a need to provide a computer-server rack enclosure fault diagnostic system for providing a visual, overall rack level fault indication for enabling a quick and precise determination of whether a rack is housing electronic equipment exhibiting a fault.